Unless they can bring silverware back to Goodison Park for the first time in a quarter-of-a-century next year, it will be the litmus test that defines their 2019/20 season – can Everton break into the Premier League's top six?

Given that their club has now gone more than 24 years without winning a major trophy for the first time in their 141-year history, Blues fans will have been encouraged to see Marco Silva name a strong line-up for their Carabao Cup second round tie at Lincoln City – which they needed given the way the Imps took the game to them, scoring after 20 seconds and going into the final nine minutes level before the visitors' class eventually secured a 4-2 win.

However, progress in knockout competitions always relies on the vagaries of the draw but when it comes to assembling a squad for the rigours of a nine-month Premier League campaign, it seems that Silva's side are now well-placed to provide a challenge to the division's established half dozen elite clubs.

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A table produced by OddsMonkey based upon valuations from transfermarkt shows Everton as the only English club outside the Premier League's big six to be included in the world's top 20 most valuable squads.

The Blues are ranked at 16th overall globally with a squad valuation of £467.1million which puts them sandwiched between Italy's Internazionale (£554.31m) and Ademola Lookman's new club, RB Leipzig of Germany (£455.49m) who are both competing in the Champions League this season.

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Other European heavyweights with squads considered to be worth less than Everton include the likes of AC Milan (£443.7m); Valencia (£422.28m); Roma (£356.99m); Monaco (£331.88m); Ajax (£317.7m); Lyon (£306.32m); Benfica (£279.63m); Sevilla (£236.88m) and Porto (£228.78m).

The pool of players assembled by Marcel Brands is therefore seen to be more valuable than any of the rest of the Premier League's chasing pack, including the next highest English side Leicester City (22nd place, £353.03m); West Ham United (26th £299.03m); Bournemouth (27th £281.7m) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (29th £277.07m), who finished above them last season.

Of course the magnitude of the task that the Blues face is highlighted by the squad valuations of the Premier League clubs above them in the table.

Manchester City, champions for the past two seasons, are considered to have the world's most valuable squad at £1.14billion and one of only three to top the billion pound mark along with Spain's big two of Real Madrid (£1.06b) and Barcelona (£1.05b).

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Next up are Everton's neighbours and last season's Champions League winners Liverpool in fourth with a squad valued at £959.18m while Tottenham Hotspur are sixth at £881.55m.

The remaining half of the big six find themselves clumped together in 10th, 11th and 12th place respectively and perhaps appear to be more attainable targets for the Blues to try and overhaul in the real league table.

They are Chelsea (£712.8m); Manchester United (£645.53m) and Arsenal (£592.88m).